3D Memorys, 04 Feb 2018Is newsjacking/advertising/marketing included for $350?No, only hardware parts; the profit part is also separate; and, these numbers are calculated by market analytics, not given by Apple.

3D Memorys, 04 Feb 2018If the price is $1000 how much is the cost price? $300 or even lower?! It depends on how manufacturer invest in both hardware and software; the cost of hardware part of iPhone X is $355-370 for 64 Gb model ($245-260 for iPhone 8), but let's not forget about the iOS and the other software, that is available for iOS devices without additional payments (I don't say "for free" because nothing is truly free in our society).

For the ever increasing costs while high end ones are not even pushing battery, cameras, or ram just to start off.. and are more fragile and costly to repair...and planned obsolence with so many things including batteries???

Oh jeee ain't that an exact repetition of the headphone jack debate? Paul being the iBoy defending any Apple decision including the outrageous prices and ever increasing ones, when Peter has some common sense going on, even tho he wasn't the one on the last sunday debate he's basically doing the same.

R&D costs as a justification for them getting increasingly expensive ain't no excuse. These costs have always been there, the technology going on phones ain't exclusive to them, much less to a single model. That, when they even need to design anything. Take the Samsung J series for example. Take a screen size. ALL THE MODELS on that screen size are pretty much identical in construction, and use the exact same panel, down to the cutouts and even structure is shared to a 80% degree, change some specs, colors, back pattern and call it a day.
"but it's about flagships!" No, mid range devices are also getting increasingly expensive. Heck low end ones are more and more expensive. You just don't find them at their old prices. The lack of exclusive technology, and the normal nature of engineering of using as much off-the-shelf as possible further debunks the gigantic astronomic costs of R&D for each device.

Yes. First time I spend $1043.79 on a phone (pixel 2 xl with 2 year protection). Now I can afford it so I'm not saying I'm special or anything but dam, A G for a phone is even still alot for me. For me it was either iPhone X or Pixel 2 XL. I felt like for a G my money would be well spent on a pixel. Plus I got 100$ store credit and a free mini (thanks Google) so I got a bunch of stuff for my pixel, so that helped out.

Phones are just too expensive. Apple proved you could put out a thousand dollar phone and people will buy it. Which is good and bad. But most people can't afford a thousand dollar phone

Phones should be tops like 800 or 850. Maybe the Galaxy X would be worth a G but other than that it's hard to get people to buy.

all those billion dollar investment and it feels like we're reaching the saturation point in recent years, there's barely any noticeable improvement, if at all, that's worth the ever increasing price they're asking every year.

most noticeable ones come from cpu and software and those are two things that most phone companies outsource, heck barely anyone would notice had samsung and apple used solely qualcomm cpu in their phones.

it's just more (less) techs dedicated to stealth planned obsolescence every iteration. think these companies will learn it the hard way sooner or later.

Yes, they are getting way too expensive and people are still buying them.
Take Galaxy A series from Samsung for example - first A3/A5 cost rather modest, still too pricey for resolution and RAM amount but it came from Samsung, not Meizu/Xiaomi, so there was some justification at that time for price difference for similar specs.
But with every new A series generation the price would increase, and now the A8 has been released and boy is it overpriced!
I would gladly pay 150 euros, not more, if said phone came with IP68, USB-C, NFC and was below 5" - these are the things that are currently not available from most big names(Xiaomi/Meizu included) below 300$, thats the only reason I didnt get Xiaomi 4X in black, it had good size, despite big 5" screen, but lacks NFC and waterproofing is absent as well, could have lived without USB-C for 150$, so I got A3 2017 for 199 euros on sale, only downsize - glass back thats supposedly fragile.

TL:DR
Phones are expensive, give me 150$ phone with Xiaomi'esque specs but add NFC, IP68 and USB-C to it and size not bigger than 4X and Im sold onto it! If one wants great camera, then last years flagship(though LG G6 isnt flagship, its camera performance is said to be very good) or this years flagship is your only bet and youll overpay hundreds of $$$ just for camera alone, the rest isnt as important to me.
Waiting for QI charging to trickle down to budget phones though!

Santana, 04 Feb 2018They are getting way to expensive but also manufacturers are stripping us of features while ch... moreYep that's actually the main reason i buy cheap phones. Phones, and ESPECIALLY flagships are too crippled and impractical. Fragile, weak battery, lack of 3.5mm slots, ridiculous remote control-like aspect ratios.

And then there's also the non-removable battery combined with fast charging and glass back. So not only it will degrade in no time, but i practically won't be able to replace it even at a repair center.

So i wouldn't buy an expensive phone simply because they suck. If there was a phone actually worth buying that won't make me hate any aspect of it, i'd pay the even $1000, knowing i get to use it at least 3 years.
But now? Well since i'm gonna be unhappy anyway, i'm better being unhappy with my $180 phone. And i'll still not replace it anytime soon. Already had it for 15 months.

Why buy the most recent phone? i mean iPhone 7 is great, even iPhone 6 or SE, the problem is many people treat tech like fashion and they want to buy the newest phone every time no matter what, companies have the right to put whatever price on their products, people can vote with their wallets.

As for R&D ... soon we will reach a point where companies can't add much, and we reached a point where phones are too complex ... for the love of everything holy: i want simple not-so-smart phone, good screen, good camera and default apps, no need for most features ... but they'll never do that, there is not enough money in making such phone.

Anonymous, 04 Feb 2018If you were to compare TVs from today and TVs from 15 years ago. Prices haven't changed too mu... moreEverything is cheaper today. People never account for inflation.
TVs today are cheaper, better and last more.